Shoe-polishing apparatus



F. KINGSLEY.

sHoE PoLlsHlNG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJO, 191?. 1,373,662, Patented Apr. 5, 1921'.

//VE/VTOB L ATTORNEYS PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS KINGSLEY, F NEW MCHELLE, NEW YCBK.

SHOE-POLISHING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. i, 1921.

I Application led August 10, 1917. Serial No. 185,439.

; To all 'whom t may concern space of time,

Be it known that I, FRANCIS KiNosLEY, a citizen of the United States, and residing in the city of New Rochelle, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Polishing Atpparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

The general object of this invention is to reduce to a minimum the time required in the operation of polishing a pair of shoes and therefore to permit the maximum volume of work to be done with agiven amount of labor and in a given space.

By the present invention itis not sought to produce improved machines of a wholly automatic character but to produce apparatus, power-driven, which shall be lcapable of being manipulated by the operator with such readiness and celerity that the time required for the operation is reduced to a minimum. In accordance with the invention a rotary brush, vdriven at a suitably high speed, is so supported that it is capable not only of a free, swinging movement in every direction, in a horizontal plane, without material resistance, but also of free movement vertically without material. resistance, so that' the operator, in the shortest possible may move the brush into contact with every portion of the surface to be polished. In order that the whole operation may be systematized to the last degree and time saved to the last second, the

whole apparatus is so arranged that they either sittingl or standing, places customer,

the foot-rest without being his foot upon required to turn about and the operator sitsstands on the opposite side of` or kneels or the foot-rest with his back to the4 wall and with a power-driven brush, supported as above stated, for each hand, so that when the blacking or polishing material hasbeen applied to the shoe the operator can quickly apply the brushes, one at each side, to every part of the surface to be polished, including the to of the toe as well as the sides of the foot, t e instep and the heel. v

The invention will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which it is illustrated and in which- Figure 1 is a view in elevation illustrating the general arrangement of the apparatui.

Fig.l 2 is a view, partly in vertical section and partly in elevation, `on a larger scale than that of Fig. l, showing more in detall the brush and its supporting'and driving means.

As indicated in Fig. 1 a customer, steppingforward upon the platform a and resting his hands on the handrail b, places his foot upon the foot-rest c. The operator, seated upon a stool d, with his back to the wall ce, manipulating with each hand a power-driven brush f, brushes the dust from the shoe and then with his hands, aided by other devices not shown, applies the blacklng or the polishing material to the shoe. The brushes are again manipulated by `the operator to polish the blacking or polishing material which has been applied to the shoe, and with a few strokes of the polishing cloth the operation is completed.

It will be obvious that each brush (only one being shown in the drawings), must be capable of being moved freely vtoward and from the shoe and along the side of the shoe and up and down, so that it may be brought into contact with every portion of the surface tovbe polished, and that it must also be so supported that it shall offer practically no resistance. to any of such movements by the operator. In the most satisfactory embodiment of the invention thus far subjected to practical test, the brush f is provided not only with bristles f whichv are radially disposed, but with bristles f2 on the end, which are normal to the plane of rotation. This brush is supported and driven by means which cause the brush to be rotated upon asubstantially vertical axis and also 4permit it to be swung freely in asubstantially horizontal plane and to be raised and lowered freely. As shown, the brush is carried by a short inflexible shaft g, which is preferably connected by a unil versal joint g', so as to give greater ilexibility of movement, to another vertical shaft or shaft section g2 which is arranged to telescope within a tubular shaft or shaft section g3. The latter is connectedat its upper end to-the shaft h of a motor h, which is supported by a support h2 which .has a spherical bearing at h3 in a supporting bracket'h. A sleeve i depends from the support h2 and has at its lower end a suitable bearing z" for the lower end of the tubular shaft g". The latter is slotted 1ongitudinally, as at g, to eoperate with a pin g5 on the telescoping shaft section 92, so as to compel rotation of the shaft section g2 with the shaft section g3 While permitting relative vertical movement. The shaft section g is provided with ahandhle la, in order that the brush may be manipulated conveniently by the operator, the handle lc having a sleeve c to receive the shaft section g. For the purpose of counterbalancing the Weight of the brush and its connected shaft sections, a counterbalance spring Z is'connected at one end, as at Z, to the` sleeve e', and at the other end to a hooked rod Z2 Which engages the handle 7c and isguided in its vertical movement by guides 2 on the sleeve z'.

It will now be understood that in the use of the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the operator, grasping the handle 7c, moves the brush f in contact with the surface of the shoevto be polished, swinging it toward and from the shoeI and to and fro in contact with the side of the shoe, and then lifting and swinging it so that the bristles f2 may contact with the upper surface of the shoe. Preferably the operator is provided With a similar brush for manipulation by each hand, so that .the operation may be expedited, but as the means for supporting and operating the brushes are identical it is not necessary to describe and show them both.

l claimas my invention:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a rotary brush, a vertical brush shaft movable with the brush in a horizontal and in a vertical plane, a depending drive shaft connected slidingly with the first named shaft and means to counter-balance the Weight of the brush and the brush shaft for vertical movement relative to the drive shaft.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, tli'e combination of a rotary brush, a drive shaft therefor, a nonrotary housing in which saidI shaft is supported, and a brush shaft connected through a telescoping joint with said drive shaft and movable in a horizontal and vertical plane.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a rotary brush, a drive shaft therefor, anonrotary housing in which said shaft is Supported, a brush shaft connected through a `telescoping joint with said drive shaft and movable in a horizontal and vertical plane, a spring to counter-balance the Weight of the brush and the lower section of the telescoping shaft.

This specification signed this 6th day of August, 1917.

FRANCIS KINGSLEY. 

